Music and Dance Tell Stories, Too

March has been an incredible month! For a third year in a row we had the opportunity to be a part of the team that coordinates the Teen Action Fair at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center. This event is dedicated to showcase young change-makers from across the Puget Sound who are working to make a difference in their local and global communities.

One of the highlights of the event was the incredible music by Archers Beats and the powerful performance by Northwest Tap Connection. One of the most powerful and heartfelt songs we heard from Archers Beats, titled Truce, was written by Nathan Nzanga (second picture from the top down) after the shooting of Alton Sterling. The song speaks about the power of love and the need for social justice with great clarity and passion (keep spreading the love, Archers Beats). The performance by Northwest Tap Connection was just as compelling. We first learned about them at a Community Resilience Summit where a short video showcasing their work was shown. Their work is truly a beautiful intersection of music, storytelling, dance, youth empowerment, and social justice. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with these two groups. Each one of them, through their own crafts and channels, music and dance, are working to tell a different story of what is possible and needed in our community: love, justice, harmony, community, and movement.

We also want to congratulate the Snoqualmie Valley Community Network (SVCN) for hosting their 10th Annual Be the Change Youth Summit at Chief Kanim Middle School. Our founder and director, Luis Ortega, returned for a fourth year to bring the power of storytelling to this event. Thank you SVCN for your commitment to making a difference for young people and for inviting Storytellers for Change to be a part of this incredible community.

As always, thank you for being part of our Storytellers for Change community and believing in our mission to build a more empathetic and inclusive world through storytelling and story-listening. Let us keep working to make a difference.